Come!

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite Christmas carols was "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful."  I loved to hear the organist play the majestic melody as the congregation raised their voices, over and over again, for that mighty refrain, "Oh, come let us adore Him."  I was intrigued whenever I heard the Latin version, Adeste Fideles, and was thrilled when I was finally able to sing along in Latin.  "Venite Adoramus, Dominum; Come, let us adore the Lord."  Somehow, those Latin lyrics made the hymn seem even more majestic, if that was possible.  To me, this hymn was an essential part of any Christmas celebration, because it called each one of us to come and worship Jesus, who was born to be our Savior and King.

Religious_christmas : Vector illustration of the holy family of the nativity or birth of Jesus created as stained glass Stock Photo

Years later, I was excited to hear a new Christmas song on the radio.  "Come On, Ring those Bells" was contemporary, through and through--a great contrast to the old Christmas carols I knew and cherished--but I loved that new Christmas song anyway.  It was one of the first songs to recognize modern Christmas customs and celebrations:

Come On, Ring Those Bells
Chenoweth/Culverwell, 1977; Sung by Evie Tornquist

Everybody likes to take a holiday; 
Everybody likes to take a rest.
Spending time together with the family, 
Sharing lots of love and happiness.

Celebrations come because of something good, 
Celebrations we love to recall.
Mary had a baby boy in Bethlehem, 
The greatest celebration of them all.

Come on, ring those bells, light the Christmas tree,
Jesus is the king, born for you and me.
Come on, ring those bells; everybody say,
Jesus, we remember this, your birthday.

We still lived in Michigan when I first sat down to write a Christmas song.  The details are somewhat fuzzy for me now, but I remember wanting to write a song that tied together the old and the new.  This song, "Venite Adoramus," is the result.

Venite Adoramus 
Janet Bauer, c. 1980

Venite Adoramus, Dominum. Venite Adoramus, Dominum.
Oh, come let us adore Him on this happy morn.
Oh, come let us adore Him; Jesus Christ is born.

      Baby Jesus, we adore You.
      We bow before You on this happy Christmas morning!

Venite Adoramus, Dominum. Venite Adoramus, Dominum.
Oh, come let us adore Him, sing it everyone.
Oh, come let us adore Him, the Father's only Son.

      Ring the bells now, all you people.
      Sing your carols on this day of celebration.

Venite Adoramus, Dominum. Venite Adoramus, Dominum.
Oh, come let us adore Him on this happy morn.
Oh, come let us adore Him; Jesus Christ is born.
Oh, come let us adore Him, sing it everyone.
Oh, come let us adore Him, the Father's only Son.

      Light the candles. Sing the chorus:
      Happy Birthday to You, Lord Jesus! 

Venite Adoramus, Dominum. Venite Adoramus, Dominum. 
Venite Adoramus, Dominum.

Click on the link below to hear Venite Adoramus.  Oh, come, let us adore Him!

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